ACCESSION NUMBER:244149 FILE ID:EPF305 DATE:09/23/92 TITLE:SENATE COMMITTEE'S FOCUS TURNS TO LAOS (09/23/92) TEXT:*92092305.EPF *EPF305 09/23/92 * SENATE COMMITTEE'S FOCUS TURNS TO LAOS (Text: POW panel release 9/23) (300) Washington -- Top officials and first-hand witnesses to America's efforts to account for servicemen missing in Laos will testify on Thursday, Chairman John Kerry (Democrat of Massachusetts) and Vice Chairman Bob Smith (Republican of New Hampshire) announced September 23. The Committee also will examine if and why there was a change in U.S. Government policy -- from mid-March 1973 statements (contained in recently declassified documents) discussing the possibility of up to 350 missing in Laos, to declaring publicly in mid-April 1973 that there was "no indication" of Americans held captive in Southeast Asia. The hearing begins on Thursday at 9:30am in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. It is open to the public. Following is the text of the witness list for that hearing: (begin text) SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON POW/MIA AFFAIRS Expectations about POW's in Laos & Questions Re Operation Homecoming September 24, 1992 PANEL 1: Expectations about POWs in Laos Admiral Thomas Moorer (USN, Ret.) Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1970-1974 G. McMurtrie Godley U.S. Ambassador to Laos, 1969-1973 John H. Holdridge Assistant Secretary of State, East Asia/Pacific, 1981-1983 China Specialist, State Department, 1948-1985 Admiral Daniel J. Murphy (USN, Ret.) Deputy Director of Intelligence, CIA, 1977-1980 PANEL 2: Laos Questions Major General Richard Secord Laos Chief of Air, CIA, 1966-1968 Laos Desk Officer, Pentagon, 1972-1975 Elliot L. Richardson Secretary of Defense, 1973 PANEL 3: Questions re Operation Homecoming in Spring 1973 Governor William Clements Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1973-1976 1r. Roger E. Shields Deputy Assistant Secretary for POW/MIA Affairs Department of Defense, 1971-1977 Col. Lawrence Robson (USAF, Ret.) POW Subcommission of 4-Party Joint Military Commission (end text) NNNN .